Buyers circle Vion’s Broxburn site

Reports in the Scottish press say that a group of Glasgow-based businessmen have made an offer on the closed Vion-owned Hall’s of Broxburn site and plan to turn it into an abattoir.

The website Scotsman.com reported that a bid on the site had been made by a group under the name of CDR Holdings. It wrote: “The daring bid has been spearheaded by CDR managing director George Elliott, who said the plant could be made financially viable in a move he promised would kick-start the region’s ailing jobs market.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Sun reported the CDR boss George Elliot to have said the site could have a “state-of-the-art abattoir going in a month”. He was reported to have said 1,000 jobs could be created in three years and 150-200 people could be employed almost immediately, although the Scottish Sun did not state that a bid had been made.

A Vion spokesman told MeatInfo.co.uk: “Basically there have been a number of offers for the site. We can’t discuss any of the parties involved at this stage.”

A spokesperson from West Lothian council told MeatInfo.co.uk it was not aware of any finalised business plans being presented for the buyout of the site and that it had seen the media reports. A statement from the council said: “The closure of Hall’s of Broxburn was a major blow to West Lothian. [A] Scottish Government Taskforce was set up as a response and [a] West Lothian Economic Growth Plan was developed which involves partnership working between West Lothian Council and Scottish Enterprise. The plan aims to support the creation of 3,000 jobs in West Lothian.”

Hall’s of Broxburn

The Vion-owned site closed on 8 February this year making 1,700 people redundant after a 90-day consultation was completed in October 2012. Vion bought the site in 2008 and invested tens of millions of pounds into the business, however, it was claimed the plant was losing £79,000 a day. Hall’s closure was announced before Vion decided to pull out of the UK in November 2012, and rejected two offers before finally ending production.